


All I've Ever Needed

by littlegreyyy



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fresher Harry, M/M, Major Illness, Triggers, Universe Alteration, University Student Harry, University Student Louis, University Student Niall, University Student Zayn, larry - Freeform, larry stylinson - Freeform, lourry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-27
Updated: 2014-07-05
Packaged: 2018-02-06 11:21:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1856230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlegreyyy/pseuds/littlegreyyy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Third Year Performing Arts student Louis Tomlinson was a year away from freedom, all he had to do was get through this last year without any hiccups, that’s until he meets Fresher Harry, who’s a bit of an enigma to say the least.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first fic in a while, I've got a lot of time now so I can write! This first chapter is setting the scene a bit so please give it a chance :) and if you know what Starkid is, you'll understand this reference in it, if not it doesn't matter, just enjoy!

“Get your arse up, Tommo.” Louis stirred. Of course he was awake, but there was no way he was getting up, especially with Liam Payne as his alarm clock. “I know you’re awake, arsehole.”

“Mmmff, m’up.” Louis groaned, rubbing his eyes as he looked up to see Liam stood there, fully clothed.

“Come on, it’s half ten, you said you’d help at the Rugby society stand with me today and we need to be there by eleven.”

“That’s today?”

“Yes its bloody today, now get up!” Liam said as he turned away to leave.

Louis did an over dramatic yawn and groan, before sitting up. “Alright don’t get your knickers in a twist, jock.”

“Stop calling me a bloody jock!” He heard coming from behind the door, it was muffled so he didn’t technically hear it.

After waiting an extra five minutes, simply to piss Liam off a bit more, he got out of bed and went straight to the mirror. He didn’t look too bad, he hadn't been on a proper night out since he got back but the Refreshers events were never as good as the Freshers events. In an odd way he was almost jealous of them, he wishes he could relive his Freshers week, the only thing he wouldn't relive is the two years out of his three year course. But he was in his final year, his final year before freedom, and he couldn’t bloody wait.

Eventually he did start getting ready to then finally meet Liam downstairs at ten to.

****

It was like déjà vu to see all these freshers walking around, all of them in large groups as they’d not met anyone from their courses yet, so each flat group follow each other around like ducks.

That’s how Louis met Liam, they were flat mates in their first year. At first they hated each other, Liam was Mister Prim and Proper and wouldn't take part in any of the flat’s pre drinking games, or even go out for that matter. At first, he was pretty boring, and with them both doing completely different courses - Liam was studying Sport Development, and Louis was doing a Performing Arts course - they didn't have to spend that much time together. However that all changed when Louis brought his friend Zayn over. They got on like a house on fire, and somehow convinced Liam to go out with them that night.

Three years, forty tattoos and thousands of units of alcohol later, they were all living together and enduring their final year at University.

“Louis, no one is going to come over if you look bored shitless.” Liam said as he picked up a set of leaflets about the society.

“It’s because I am bored shitless, I don’t even do bloody rugby so why am I here?”

Liam handed him another pile of leaflets, “Because you agreed to it when you were off your face.”

Louis rolled his eyes, “When they say you do stupid shit when you’re drunk…”

“Just shut up,” Liam sighed. “You do drama, you’re an actor, _act_ like you want to be here.”

“It’s Performing Arts, I think you’ll find.”

“Stop being a cocky shit and do your job.”

He snatched the leaflets away, plastering on his ‘actor’s smile’ and doing exactly what Liam said. However he only lasted half an hour, there was only so much false smiling he could do before people saw he was putting it on. He told Liam he was going for a toilet break, when he really just wanted an excuse to leave for a bit. As he wandered around the fair he couldn’t quite understand why people would want to join any of the ridiculous little clubs and societies, half of them he could understand because they were actual things like a sport, but there was some that he just didn’t see the point in. One stand he saw was for something called Starkid, whatever the bloody hell that was. But he found himself walking over anyway.

He was immediately greeted with a leaflet, being handed to him by a lad wearing a hoody that said ‘ _Starkid_ ’. “This is the Starkid Society, our first meeting is on Thursday at half past five, we hope to _find_ you there.” Louis didn’t know what to do, so he just smiled and walked away.

He had a scan through the leaflet as he walked, before screwing it up and throwing it in the bin. As he turned around he was suddenly face to face with someone, both of them accidentally bumping into each other.

“Oops, sorry.”

Louis took a step back, “Don’t worry about it, it was my fault.”

The boy ran his hand through his curls, “Um.”

“You wanting to be anywhere in particular? Are you lost?” Louis questioned. He could tell he was only a Fresher, despite this boy being a bit taller than he was. He just stayed silent. “I know I’m a third year, but I don’t bite.”

“Sorry.”

Louis smiled, shaking his head slightly, “No it’s okay, I’m only teasing you,” He looked at him and finally cracked a smile. “What’s your name?”

“Harry. Harry Styles.” The boy ran his hand through his hair again.

“Well hello Harry, Harry Styles. My name’s Louis, Louis Tomlinson.” Harry smiled wider, and the two boys shook hands. “So are you gonna tell me where you’re wanting to go?”

"I want to join a society.”

Louis laughed, “You’ve come to the right place for that mate, take your pick,” Harry looked around him, he was obviously still a bit shy. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you a tour, free of charge because I’m such a nice person.”

That made Harry smile a bit more, “Okay, thank you.”

Louis led Harry all around the campus, showing his some places of interest which involved a few alcohol related stories. Harry just listened and laughed along with him, he couldn’t help but find Louis interesting. Once Louis had finished his little tour, they sat themselves down on a bench just outside the main building. “So what course are you doing?”

“Music, there’s a boy who lives in my flat doing the same thing so I’m quite good friends with him. What about you?”

“Performing Arts.” Louis said. “So do you live far?”

He shook his head, “I’m from Holmes Chapel.”

“Ah a Cheshire boy.” Harry looked down and smiled. “I’m a Donny lad myself.”

Harry looked up again, “I knew it was somewhere in Yorkshire.”

Louis sat up a bit more, finally Harry had a bit of personality coming through. “So how old are you?”

“I turned twenty in February.”

“Bit old to be a Fresher, aren’t you?” Harry shrugged. “Was it a gap year, well, two gap years?”

“You could say that yeah. How old are you?”

“Twenty-two, I took a gap year before I started, Uni wasn’t really my thing at first but my mum convinced me otherwise.”

He remembered the conversation he’d had with his mum about the gap year back when he was only nineteen. He was convinced it was the best thing for him and that Uni would be a waste of time for him, and that he wanted to get stuck into the real world and earn his own money. His mum gave it a chance. However five jobs later, two he quit and the other three he was sacked from, his mum had ordered various prospectuses and had bookmarked about twenty different university websites on his laptop.

The two boys spent the rest of the afternoon chatting, before Harry had to meet up with his flatmate again. Louis offered to walk with him to meet him. When they arrived at the meeting place, a blonde boy came over with a number of leaflets and wristbands - one reason why he hated the Fresher’s Fairs, you always came away with piles of pointless things you’d never even look at again.

“Alright Haz, who’s this?”

“This is Louis, a third year,” Harry smiled, “Louis this is Niall.”

Louis held out his hand, “You’re Irish.”

Niall smiled with burrowed eyebrows, “Thanks for noticing mate.”

Louis shook his head, “Sorry, I haven’t come across many Irish people here.”

“Don’t worry about it, but nice to meet you.” Niall said. He then looked at Harry, “you coming Harry?”

He nodded, “Yeah, I’ll meet you at the flat.”

Once Niall had disappeared into the building, Harry sighed and faced Louis. “Well it was nice meeting you, thank you for that tour. See you soon?”

“It’s no problem,” Louis smiled. “And that’s not a question, of course I’ll see you again.” They exchanged numbers, before going their separate ways for the time being.

Liam met him outside of the main building, with a massive smile plastered on his face. “What are you grinning at?” Louis asked.

“Said you’d have fun, didn’t I?”

“What are you talking about?”

Liam wiggled his eyebrows, “You’ve bagged a fresher.”

Louis rolled his eyes and smacked Liam’s arm, “Oh piss off, he’s a mate.”

“That’s what they all say, but he’s a fresher mate, you won’t see him again, trust me.”

Louis just sighed, “Liam he’s just a friend, nothing more, and anyway he didn’t seem the type to shag about, he was quiet and really nice.”

The two began walking, “It’s always the quiet ones.”

Louis just shook his head, he wasn’t listening to what he was saying anymore, and he knew Harry wasn’t like what Liam was implying.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo updated! Enjoyyy!

Freshers week came and went in the blink of an eye. Before everyone knew it, it was time to start knuckling down and get on with their lectures and work.

Harry awoke pretty late, his timetable had him down to have Monday’s off which surprised him, all he’d ever heard from his sister, Gemma, was how hard it was and busy she was when she was at Uni, never once did she mention a day off. He wasn’t complaining though. As he sat up he coughed, his nose itching too.

 _Great_. He’d caught the dreaded Fresher’s Flu.

Of course he’d have caught it, he’s Harry. He’d only been to one or two parties that week and still managed to catch the bloody thing. He sighed and got out of bed, there wasn’t much he could do about it, just man up about it and battle through. He was good at that.

After quickly getting himself dressed, he went into the kitchen. The place was a tip, the sink full of plates and cutlery that hadn’t really been washed, he expected this of halls, he’d been told a lot of things from Gemma. Niall was obviously still in bed, so he decided there wouldn’t be any harm in having a tidy up. It didn’t take him long to wash up and dry the plates, and after half an hour the sink area was pretty much spotless. His mum had always been quite a clean freak, everything around the house had to be germ free, and so he’d picked that up from her.

He sat down on the sofa in the small living room area by the kitchen, getting his phone out. He hadn’t properly looked at his phone all week. As he played about with his phone, out of pure boredom, he came across Louis Tomlinson’s number, the third year from the fair.

Shit, he’d completely forgot to text him like he’d said. He opened up a new message and quickly typed a short text in before sending it off.

~~~

“Fucking toaster is fucked.”

Zayn sat back in his chair, “We need a swear jar or somet’ in this house, how many fucks did you really need then?”

Louis turned to him from the counter, “It’s your toaster, I wouldn’t need to swear if you’d picked one that actually worked.”

“Nah mate, it’s perfectly fine,” Zayn stood up and picked up the plug, holding it up, “you’re just stupid.”

Louis snatched it away, “piss off.”

Liam walked in just as Zayn sat back down, he’d just got back from his lecture. He dumped his bag by the door and sat by Zayn, “What’s going on?”

“Mister Genius here didn’t plug the toaster in.”

Liam laughed, “How did you even get past first year again mate?”

“I didn’t know comedy was a part of your course, Li.” Louis mumbled as he plugged the toaster in.

“Speaking of first year, have you heard from that Fresher?”

Louis paused, shit, he was hoping that wouldn’t be brought up. Thinking about it, he hadn’t heard from him at all. He cleared his throat and turned around. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“You know exactly who I mean,” Liam said, sitting forward. Louis shifted uncomfortably, “is that a no?”

Louis shrugged, “Its Fresher’s week, you know, probably busy or hungover.”

Liam just let out a loud and obnoxious laugh. “I knew it, I bloody knew it, told you.”

“Oh shut up, you know what fresher’s week is like. Anyway, it’s not like I’m bothered about it.”

“Who’s this fresher?” Zayn asked.

“Some first year Louis met last week, he fancies him,” the both of them smirked at Louis, who just scoffed and crossed his arms. “and fresher hasn’t text him like he said he would.”

"Ooh Tommo!” Zayn’s smirk grew. 

“Look, I don’t fancy him, and I don’t give a shit whether he texts me.”

Just as Louis said that, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

_Hi, its Harry from the freshers fair, remember me? Sorry I didnt text you, Ive been busy this week :) x_

Louis couldn’t help but smile at the text that he was faced with. Talk about good timing.

“Was that him?” Liam asked.

“So what if it was?” Louis questioned, not taking his eyes off the text. 

“It was him, wasn’t it?” Louis didn’t say anything. “What did he say?”

“Just he’s sorry for not texting because he’d been busy.”

“’ _Busy_ ’, that’s what he’s calling it.” Liam muttered to Zayn, who laughed.

Louis looked up from the phone, “Seriously Li? You haven’t even met him.”

Liam shrugged, “Look I’m sorry mate, I just don’t wanna see you heartbroken or let down again.” He was referring to his ex, Eleanor. Louis had met her on a night out in their second year, and they began dating a month after they met. However just before they finished their second year, Liam had caught Eleanor kissing some other lad in a club. It turns out she’d been cheating on him for a while, and Liam had the awful job of telling Louis.

“Are you saying I’m a bad judge of character?”

“No, no! I’m just saying you always manage to pick someone with… I dunno, maybe a down side?”

Louis rolled his eyes, “Look, I understand what you’re saying, but Harry is just a friend, nothing more.”

Zayn sat back in his chair, “So what are you gonna say to him?”

Louis stayed silent for a moment to think, before opening up the message again and typing.

_Alright Haz, wonderin where u were ;) we should meet at the student bar for a drink, fancy it?_

Once he pressed send, he showed the boys what he’d wrote. Within minutes of sending it, he got a reply.

_Yeah ok, sounds good :) 8? X_

Louis smiled and began replying.

_8 it is! See ya then :)_

Once it had sent Louis put his phone in his pocket, an uncontrollable smile growing on his face.

“Someone’s got himself a date then.”

“It’s not a date.”

~~~

Louis spent the rest of the day trying not the think about meeting Harry at the student bar. It was nothing, just two friends meeting up for a drink, nothing more, despite what Liam and Zayn were saying. For once he attempted to listen in his lectures that day to keep his mind off it, and it seemed to work. But before he knew it, it was approaching eight. After changing his shirt a few times, he went downstairs to find Liam, Zayn and Perrie - Zayn’s girlfriend - sat watching TV in the living room.

“You look fancy,” Perrie said, “who’s the lucky lady?”

“ _Boy_.” Zayn corrected.

Perrie smiled, “Oh, I see, I didn’t know you were-”

“I’m not,” Louis interrupted, “he’s a fresher, and I’m just meeting him for a friendly drink.”

“So he says.” Liam said, his eyes still on the TV.

Louis ignored him, “I won’t be back late.” He announced before leaving.

He arrived at the student bar dead on eight, and as soon as he walked in he spotted Harry sat at the bar along with that blonde lad, Niall or something like that. Louis took a deep breath and made his way over. “Alright Fresher?” He greeted, sitting on the stool next to him.

Harry’s eyes lit up, “Louis, hi.”

“I’ll leave you two to it then.” Niall smiled, patting Harry’s back. “I’ll see you back at the flat later.” Harry nodded and Niall was soon gone.

“Is he not staying for a drink?”

“He can’t, he’s in the first seminar group for this module so he has a nine o’clock start tomorrow.” Harry smiled, sipping his drink. “Plus he wanted to make sure you didn’t stand me up.”

Louis laughed, “What, does he think this is a date?”

“He kept asking if it was.”

"And what was your response?” Harry looked at him, sipping the last of his drink up. Louis just smirked. “I’d better buy us both a drink before we finish this conversation.”

Harry shook his head, “Allow me to do that.” He added a cheeky little smile at the end.

Wait. Harry was flirting.  _Fuck_! So was he!

Louis smiled slightly, sighing. “Harry, look, before this goes any further, I’m honestly really flattered but… you’re not my type… I mean, fuck, I’m shit at this… I’m not gay.” He waited for his heartbroken reaction, for Harry to awkwardly leave and never speak to him again and that be the end of that. But instead, to his shock, Harry just laughed.

“Seriously?”

Louis’ eyebrow raised, “What? Why is that funny?”

“Well it’s not, but you just seem very…” Harry then held up his hand to do the ‘camp’ hand gesture.

Again, to Louis’ surprise, he just found himself smiling. “Well yeah, I do Performing Arts!” The both of them just laughed. “And to think, I was expecting you to be an innocent and young Fresher.”

“Because I’m gay, I’m not innocent?”

Louis raised an eyebrow, “You’re gay?”

“Was it not obvious?”

“Clearly not, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” The two of them smirked again. “And we wouldn’t be asking each other so many rhetorical questions, would we?" Harry’s smirk turned into a sort of side smile. “So how about that drink, Fresher?”

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t call me Fresher.”

“Sorry,  _Harry_ , what can I get you?”

“Just a coke please.”

“Coke and…?”

Harry shrugged, “Just a coke.”

Louis’ eyes widened slightly. “why do you look so surprised?”

“I thought that Freshers liked alcohol?”

Harry shrugged again, “I’m not like most Freshers then.”

Louis exhaled as he laughed, and just ordered the drinks. He handed Harry his ‘just coke’ and got himself a pint, and the two of them went to sit down on a small table near the back. “So music man, who do you like? I mean surely you must have some good taste to do a course like that.” Louis asked before having a drink of the pint.

“Erm…” Harry thought for a moment, “I like all sorts really, I quite like the Script, they’re the only band I’ve really seen live.”

“Oh yeah?” 

Harry nodded, “Yeah here in Manchester, I think it was in 2009.”

Louis’ eyes widened again, “No way, I was there.”

Harry’s smile grew, “Really?”

“Yeah, a few rows from the front, one of the best gigs of my life.” Louis’ smile weakened slightly, “to be honest, it was one of the only nights I could get away from my house.”

Harry frowned, “What was wrong at home?”

“It was when the arguments started, between my mum and step dad… they divorced a few years after that.” Louis eventually went quiet, his finger circling the rim of the pint glass gently.

“I’m sorry.” Harry said.

Louis looked up, shaking his head and sighing after. “Sorry, I’ll shut up, why am I telling you this anyway?” He sat back in his chair, looking back at Harry who looked… hurt. “Sorry,” He said again, sitting forward again, “Fuck, that sounded bad.”

“No it’s fine, I get you, you've just met me,” a small smile was still present on his face. There was a moment of silence, before Harry cleared his throat a bit. He couldn’t leave Louis out in the open like that. “My mum and dad split when I was seven.”

“I’m sorry.”

Harry shook his head, “Don’t be silly, it’s not your fault,” he sighed again. “Anyway, I’ve had worse things happen to me.” Louis gave him an apologetic look, it looks like they were more alike than he first thought. Harry shook his head, “Anyway, any brothers or sisters?”

Louis smiled, “Yeah, five sisters and a brother.”

“Wow, big family then.”

They both laughed. “Yeah, we’re pretty close I’d say, I visit whatever chance I get, it’s not like I live that far away so I can go whenever I'm free. What about you?”

"I just have an older sister, she’s just left Uni.” Harry smiled.

"Aw, sick."

"Yeah, we're quite close as well." Harry said as he had a drink of his coke. Louis just watched him as he drank, and smiled. 

"So what's it like in halls?"

Harry sighed, "Alright, I like Niall though, he's a good mate, we get along well although he can be a bit... loud."

"Loud?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah, like you hear him before you see him?" Louis just laughed, he could swear Niall was a replica of himself back when he was a fresher. "No he's a good mate, I get along with him the best." 

"I was like that when I lived in halls, eventually I got along the best with the two lads I live with now. You and Niall will have to meet them one day."

"Yeah, I'd love to."

The two of them both had a sip of their drinks, smiles present on their faces. It was so odd how they were so alike in some ways. 

~~~

It started to get very late, when Louis checked his phone it was almost midnight, and somehow Louis had barely finished his second pint, which wasn’t normal for him when he was out at this time, he’d usually had at least 3 and a few other drinks alongside it. What could he say, he liked his alcohol.

“I’d better be getting back,” Louis said, having one last sip of his drink before standing up and putting his jacket on.

Harry also stood up, “Yeah, me too actually.”

“I’ll walk you back if you like?”

“I don’t need a chaperone, I’m capable of walking back myself.”

Louis shook his head, “I’d be a pretty shit date if I didn’t walk you back.”

Harry chuckled, “I thought this wasn’t a date?”

Louis just laughed along, “Come on, let’s go.”

Harry’s building - which oddly enough was the same building he was in when he was in halls - wasn’t too far from the bar, and it wasn’t on a ridiculously high floor either.

“I enjoyed tonight.” Harry smiled.

“Yeah same.” Louis replied.

Harry unlocked his door, “You can come in for a bit if you like? Niall is probably up so…”

Louis just shrugged, “Alright yeah.” Harry smiled and opened the door, moving so Louis could enter first. “Bloody hell,” Louis said as he scanned the kitchen and the living area.

“What?” Harry asked as he locked the door.

“This place is bloody tidy.” Louis couldn’t believe it, it was tidier than his old flat, and his house come to think of it. It was like his mum lived here, not students.

“There’s not many of us here,” He shrugged, “I dunno, I like tidy places.” Louis turned to face him. “I don’t really like chaos.”

“What are you staying in halls for then?” They both laughed again.

Just as they finished laughing, Niall walked in with only his dressing gown on. "Oh, shit, hi," He said, his cheeks turning red as he fastened it a bit tighter. He really should start wearing pyjamas whilst he lives with a few other people. "Uh, didn't realise you'd brought company back, Haz. Louis isn't it?"

Louis nodded, "I'm just walking him home, can't have my young fresher walk home alone, can I?" Louis smiled and ruffled Harry's hair. "Well I'd love to stay and chat, but I must leave you both." Harry looked at him, "I'll see you later, Harry."

"Okay, bye Louis." Harry unlocked the door, letting Louis out.

~~~

On his way home Louis felt strange. He couldn't tell if it was bad or good, it had nothing to do with the alcohol because he hadn't drank a lot that night, and he hadn't eaten anything funny so it wasn't that. By the time he got back home, the other's were in bed so he tried to keep quiet so he didn't wake them. At least he didn't have to face the torment and teasing from Zayn and Liam tonight, he had until tomorrow before he was ripped about Harry.

When Louis was in his room he sat on his bed, thinking about how he left Niall and Harry. He could imagine Niall also teasing him, he seemed the type to from what Harry had said about him at the bar. He smiled as he imagined Harry smiling and giggling at what Niall said to him.          

He kicked his shoes off and laid back on his bed, Harry's face not going away from his head. Come to think of it, neither did the weird feeling his stomach. Just as he was thinking of him, his phone vibrated next to him.

_Hiya, tonight was amazing ;) I’d quite like to go on a none date with you again sometime x_

Louis’ smile became uncontrollable, he wasn’t even expecting a text from Harry but somehow this text made him unbelievably happy. He put his phone down, still smiling as he got on with his night, yet still Harry was there.

As he brushed his teeth, changed into his pyjamas and got into bed, he was there.

That’s when he caught himself smiling, still smiling. A loving smile, a loving smile for Harry. The fresher.

_Fucking hell._

He couldn’t be, could he? He wasn’t… _isn’t_ gay.

Was he?


End file.
